Allan Adler wrote:
> Recently, I was at a library and noticed someone sitting by some books
> being sold by the library. This person was using a laptop to connect
> via wifi to Amazon. Apparently he/she was looking up the sale books
> at Amazon, but I couldn't see in greater detail what was being done.
>
> My guess is that he/she is listed at Amazon as a bookseller and was
> listing the library sale books as being available from him/her, setting
> the price at a level that would be competitive with the ones already
> listed. Since the library typically sells the books for no more than
> $2 each, that could be quite profitable if the book is ever sold by
> that bookseller. Furthermore, the bookseller doesn't have to warehouse
> the books: the library does it for him/her. Even the wifi hotspot is
> provided by the library. True, an individual book might be sold by the
> library before it can be ordered online, but these things happen and,
> if the book is subsequently ordered, a bookseller can simply re****t
> that the book is no longer available. That might reflect badly on the
> bookseller, from Amazon's point of view. But a conscientious bookseller
> engaged in this particular enterprise might regularly visit the library
> book sale books and update the inventory to see which ones are still
> available, making the scenario less likely in which a book is ordered
> and found not to be available.
>
> In fact, that might be what this individual was really doing: updating
> the inventory and cancelling his/her listings of books that were no
longer
> available.
>
> I have to admit, that does sound pretty enterprising. And one does often
> find good books on sale at libraries. I can't go to every library to see
> what it has to offer and, in effect, this bookseller is offering the
> service of doing it for me.
>
> The only thing that does bother me, I guess, is that I would much rather
> see this source or revenue going to the library. Maybe the people who
> run library book sales (volunteers, I think) should take a lesson from
> this entrepreneur.
If your theory is correct, that person is not going to be around for
long. Their negatives from cancelling orders will quickly drop them off
the radar, as they won't be able to fulfil orders with any degree of
regularity. It would be much smarter to buy the books and keep them in
your control.
I'd say they were just pricing stuff.
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